shadows // zerrie au

8

"This is.."

"Sick, I know," Gemma finished for her.

Lou finished paying the driver and waved goodbye, their suitcases right next to them. "Let's go in then, yeah?"

Gemma held Perrie's hand and dragged her suitcase with the other. Perrie rose her eyebrows in surprise, glancing at their hands.

"Security can be uptight," Gemma explained.

They walked down the long hallways, getting a few double takes from the security. They finally stopped in front of a small room filled with a few people. One of the men looked in their directions and smiled.

"Lou!" He cried. "S' been too long! How's life treated ya?"

"Real good, Shawn," She smiled.

"Still pretty as ever, Gemma! And who's this flower?"

Perrie smiled widely. " I'm Perrie."

"Nice t'meet ya, love. What brings ya here?"

Perrie opened her mouth to reply, but Lou responded instead. "She's a friend of mine. Brought her in to take care of Lux while we're touring."

"Ah, speaking of the little gem herself, where is she?"

"Tom's bringing her later on," Lou stated. "Gemma, why don't you show 'er 'round? Think it's about time she meets the boys."

"Come on," Gemma pulled her away. Perrie waved a quick goodbye, trying to keep up with Gemma's fast pace.

They walked in over to the actual backstage, the sound of singing getting louder and louder. They made their way onto the actual stage, watching five boys sing. They stood silently, waiting for them to finish the song. Once they sang the last line, Gemma whistled at them.

"Good one, boys!" She yelled.

They all turned their heads, smiling when they saw her.

"Gemma!" A tall, curly haired one came up and hugged her, Perrie's hands still holding on to Gemma's. He glanced at Perrie and smiled. "Who's this?"

"M'names Perrie," She smiled back. "Your voices are really lovely, how long have you been singing together?"

Harry furrowed his eyes slightly, but brushed it off. "I'd say a good 3 years, actually."

"Wow," Perrie gasped. "That's incredible."

"Thank you," He chuckled. "I'm Harry, Gemma's brother. These are my bandmates and actual mates, Niall, Louis, Liam, and Zayn."

They all smiled brightly and sparked conversation, but Zayn had stayed a bit more on the quiet side. He reminded her of Gemma. Not miserable, but definitely appearing to have something on their mind half the time.

"Can we get back to rehearsal?" He grumbled, his tired eyes glaring at his bandmates.

"Don't mind him, he's just exhausted. He got mobbed when he came in so now he's upset," Niall whispered.

"It's okay," She smiled politely. Sure, she came down to earth to experience everything first-hand, but if there's one thing she was set to do, it was to help along the way and one thing's for sure-- Gemma and Zayn would be at the very top of the list.

***

"Thank you London! This has been one direction, thanks for coming!" Liam said, before being lowered beneath the stage. The crowds screamed loudly, confetti falling down.

"Great show tonight, boys!" Shawn clapped.

"That was amazing," Perrie added. "You did so well!"

"Thank you," Louis smiled. "For first show, how about we celebrate?"

Everyone cheered and Perrie joined in, still hyped from the performance.

"Do you want to come?" Gemma asked. "I don't know if it's your scene, you can always stay with Tom and Lou."

"No, please! I want to go."

"Are you sure?" Gemma asked uneasily. Perrie nodded eagerly. "Alright. Let me change real quick and we'll go. You're alwats dressed like your going somewhere grand, anyway, so just chat with the boys."

Perrie said okay, but she was determined to do more than just talk to the boys. She wanted to talk to Zayn. She searched around and spotted him walking down a hall. She squeezed through the crowd, congratulating everyone while trying to catch up to Zayn.

He walked outside through the backdoor Perrie used before, searching through his pockets.

"Hi," Perrie said, catching the door before it closed.

Zayn glanced up at her. "Perrie, right?"

"Yeah," She smiled. "You did great tonight. You sing really well."

"Thanks," He gave her a tight smile.

"So, I-- what's that?"

Zayn glanced at his hands and rolled the cigarette between his fingers. "Cigarette."

Perrie frowned. "You smoke?"

"Yeah."

"Why would you do that to yourself? Do you know how deadly that is?" Perrie scolded.

Zayn sighed and looked at her. "I know all about it."

"Then stop."

"You can't just drop something addictive, especially when you've done it for some years."

"You can try," She insisted.

Zayn inhaled and exhaled the substance, puffing it out. "It was nice meeting you, but I just want to be alone."

"But it can kill--"

"Maybe I want that to happen," He snapped. "Look just.. just leave. Now."

Perrie winced. "I just wanted to talk."

"Don't," He placed the cigarette between his lips, inhaling and exhaling the substance. Noticing she hadn't left, he rose an eyebrow.

The door behind her opened, Gemma coming out from behind it. She sighed in relief. "Perrie, I was worried out of my mind! You can't just leave like that!"

"Sorry, I was just.. sorry."

"It's whatever just come on. We're getting driven."

She pulled Perrie the opposite direction of Zayn, taking her to a large black van. She got in, Gemma scolding her on and on (mostly in annoyance), but she couldn't concentrate at all.

hi I realize I never updated yesterday and since ive already got a couple of chapters written I'll be double updating woo. leave comments and give em a vote x